Shardblades and Spren

[makromag he/him]

So, I have been rereading The Way of Kings recently and when I came to the end Syl said that Dalinar would be better off without his shardblade. At that point I began to wonder: Would shardblades perhaps be able to "kill" spren? In the book it was said several times, that shardblades cut the souls of living beings, instead of their bodies. Since Spren do not have solid forms but seem to have a soul (at least Syl does) maybe the shardblades are able to hurt them. And to go even farther, maybe the shardblades were never meant to be able to cut the souls of beings but that Odium corrupted them in some manner. What do you guys think?

PS: I hope this hasn't been answered by Mr. Sanderson yet.

[ptoss1]

Good theory and very plausible. My personal take on it is that Odium didn't corrupt the Shardblades, as they were meant to fight the Voidbringers, or whatever enemies Shardbearers faced during the Desolations. They were supposed to damage the soul of the enemy because of their resistance to conventional weapons.

However you bring up a good point about Spren and souls. I wonder if perhaps other Spren could also gain intelligence or consciousness some way or another. Maybe Honorspren aren't so special.

[makromag he/him]

However you bring up a good point about Spren and souls. I wonder if perhaps other Spren could also gain intelligence or consciousness some way or another. Maybe Honorspren aren't so special.

Concerning that, there are at least one other type of spren that have some kind intelligence, the unnamed spren that shallan can draw and Elhokar can see. Well now that I think about it, maybe they don't have the same king of human feel to them that Syl shows, but they seem to be sentient (just my impression).

[Meg]

So, I have been rereading The Way of Kings recently and when I came to the end Syl said that Dalinar would be better off without his shardblade. At that point I began to wonder: Would shardblades perhaps be able to "kill" spren? In the book it was said several times, that shardblades cut the souls of living beings, instead of their bodies. Since Spren do not have solid forms but seem to have a soul (at least Syl does) maybe the shardblades are able to hurt them. And to go even farther, maybe the shardblades were never meant to be able to cut the souls of beings but that Odium corrupted them in some manner. What do you guys think?

PS: I hope this hasn't been answered by Mr. Sanderson yet.

This idea seems reasonable but: Isn't it said that Spren were bound to the Knights Radiant? Or do I misremember this? We know that Spren can die. Also we know that Syl is around for "a few thousand years". But if Spren are bound to the KR, why should they fear them respectively their blades?

Beginning babbling, I fear.

[Cayden]

I thought that the reason why both Syl disliked the Blade was similar to the reasons why the Knights Radiant abandoned their blades and plate.

Without the Voidbringers the shards had no function except to slaughter humans, and we know from Syl's reaction after the Battle at the Tower that being near death on that sort of scale hurts spren.

The Shardblades are corrupted in the same way that their original purpose can no longer be fulfilled but instead of being used as woodcutters or masonry tools they are used to kill people.

However that changes slightly if you think of them in the same way as Fabrials, if there was some sort of Spren inside the blades, then the other spren might consider it an abomination to force the trapped spren to kill mortals.